Last month it was announced that from October this year routine MOT vehicle safety inspections are to become compulsory for motorbikes in a move that is expected to go on to cover bikes of all engine sizes.
Reports indicated that motorbike MOTs should cost around €12.20 plus VAT and the measure will apply to all motorbikes with an engine capacity of 250CCs or above.”On Sunday thousands of bikers from across the country gathered in Porto, Castelo Branco, Lisbon, Faro and Funchal, to protest against MOT’s for motorbikes.
In Lisbon the action culminated in front of Parliament, where bikers handed in a manifesto asking MPs for help.
The action was called for by the Motorcyclists’ Action Group and promoted by the Portuguese Motorcycling Federation (FMP).
António Francisco, one of the organisers, said “the issue, of MOTs, is affecting lots of motorcyclists namely because it stops the freedom which is to ride a bike.”
He added that bikes are often modified, and said there are concerns that “inspection centres won’t accept them even if they are in line with the greatest efficiency and safety.”
The Motorcyclists’ Action Group said it believes the measure essentially aims to extort money from bikers, and is an “illegality” as it will “banish the circulation of bikes.”
According to the manifesto that was handed over to MPs in Parliament, the bikers are not against the MOTs, but say they won’t accept that the routine inspections are motivated “purely by economic interests” and they want to “preserve the motorcycling culture”, and the “personalisation of bikes”, which is often done using “a true recycling of non-roadworthy motorbikes.”
The FMP stated that only 0.3 percent of accidents involving motorbikes are caused by mechanical failures, and inspections will oust all personalised or minimally-modified bikes from the roads.
Speaking to Jornal de Notícias in May, Paulo Areal, president of the National Association for Inspection Centres, said the association is in talks with the government to extend the routine checks to all two and three-wheel vehicles, tractors and industrial machinery.
However, a source from the Ministry for Planning and Infrastructures said spreading the move to cover lower-cylinder engines “is still being studied, as it warrants closer analysis.”
The inspection centres are also in talks with the government with a view to making MOTs compulsory for cars, whenever a car is sold to a new owner.